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Destination, the first track released from The Phoenix Rose’s debut album, was hailed ‘one of the best crossover records of 2016 to date’. Now the band has hit back with a vibrant follow-up: the second single, Is this Luv, is the ultimate feel-good track for summer.
Riffs from the legendary Junior Marvin (Bob Marley and the Wailers) create a classic reggae foundation for the choppy ska beat and soaring pop harmonies. According to God Is In The TV, Is This Luv is ‘like a summer beach party, soundtracked by exuberant, searing rock guitar’.
Today (17 August) is lead singer Jarvis Smith’s birthday, and to mark the occasion Paste Magazine will premiere the Is This Luv video online.
Click here to be among the first to watch the Is This Luv video.
The Phoenix Rose is just one of the great acts that will be performing at Valley Fest (2-4 September), a big family-friendly festival on organic land overlooking Somerset’s Chew Valley Lake and Mendip Hills.
MyGreenPod will be hosting its very own area, The Village Green, which will add a scoop of luxury, a dollop of wellbeing and a sprinkle of magic to the festival fun.
The Bandstand will host hand-picked bands from around the world – including The Phoenix Rose – and spontaneous jam session will be encouraged around the evening bonfires.
You’ll also be able to enjoy a luxury Weleda massage or facial in the posh Spa & Wellbeing area, or relax with a wood-fired hot tub or a sauna made from western red cedar – all overlooking Chew Valley Lake.
Enjoy delicious vegan food, inspiring talks from the likes of Satish Kumar, debates on Brexit’s impact on farming, gong baths, alternative energy demonstrations, a mead and elixir bar, Gong Fu tea ceremonies and an introduction to compostable tents – all over the course of one weekend!
Click here for tickets to Valley Fest.
We caught up with Jarvis Smith to find out more about Is This Luv, the media industry and how music has the power to change the world.
What inspired the track and video?
I wanted this video to be vibrant, colourful and full of love – hopefully creating an infectious user experience. If it makes people smile, everybody loves to smile and laugh – and there is of course the saying a smile goes a long way…
The track itself was inspired by my musical guru the great and late Robert Nesta Marley – affectionally known as Bob. Around 20 years ago, after years of intense yoga practise, becoming a Reiki Master and working with energy, music started to come to me from a place I can only describe as Source.
I believe my music is for the masses; if the songs inspire an honest approach to how life can be – and that enters the collective consciousness – that to me would be success.
Is This Luv questions what love really is; like many people, I was pursuing an idea of love created by Greek tragedy and HollyWood movies: a kind of fake love. Then I was very lucky to find a shaman who specialised in yoga and sound. Through years of intense training she taught me what real love is, and for that I am truly grateful.
Now I experience love as a complete package through my beautiful wife, children and friends – through Nature and animals, the wind, mountains and seas. By living it it can manifest within and without.
What’s wrong with Hollywood and mainstream media?
The media and advertising worlds have caused the world to be consumed with bullshit – buy this and be that, look like this and be like that – showing us only what the media want us to see.
With the internet now thankfully we all have access to more information so we question things, but there still seems to be a general lethargy or complacency when it comes to responding or standing up to the things we don’t agree with.
The Phoenix Rose album provides a musical score for breaking down old systems and firing up new ones. Music is an incredibly powerful medium that can move people en masse; we’ve seen it before with The Beatles offering peace and Marley speaking of taking responsibility. Both offered love as the ultimate vision and way to live.
Unless we feel love we cannot understand its power and strength. My wish is for all humanity to experience love in its purest, unconditional, infinite and honest way.
How can music change the world?
Music used to be sacred and only used in praise for what life offered. My father’s family contains a lineage of great poets and musicians who sang Raags – melodies that created feelings of wonder in hearts and souls, and words of sincerity and wisdom that informed and inspired the being-ness of individual listeners when it was felt in their hearts, minds and spirits.
Most popular music these days taps into the psyche through our own sadness and loss. Take Adele, for example. Don’t get me wrong, we all love Adele – but why do we connect with her music so strongly? Because we have all felt pain and loss, so we can all relate to her music.
However when you take a song like Imagine or OneLove, these songs offer hope and maybe even a lightbulb moment. I want The Phoenix Rose album to offer both possibilities, a breath in and out, dark and light, an experience that reflects the natural polarity of this world. Day and night and life are death and the only constants to care about, then we can live life in celebration not worrying about anything else!
Where does the environment come in?
My goal with MyGreenPod.com and the P.E.A. Awards is to inspire people to live on this planet differently, to be more conscious about cause and effect and to take responsibility for their actions. We reach over 3 million readers – an audience we’ve built over the last 10 years. It’s natural for us to care but we don’t always have the tools to respond, so what I hope we have created is content and ideas that make it easy for people to consider a change within their own daily lives.
If I’m deeply honest I think our planet is showing us humans that unless we change the way we live on the Earth it will continue to give us experiences to shift us along. Nature is ruthless and beautifully magnificent with its honesty. It will respond forever to the changing environment. The Big Question is, will humanity do the same? If not we will be left behind and we’ll die.
We need wise pop culture leaders who will offer completely different solutions to how we need to respond to life as it is now. With any luck The Phoenix Rose album will help ignite those leaders, fire up some bellies and help fuel the biggest movement this universe has ever seen!
Click here to buy The Phoenix Rose’s debut album on iTunes, or here for music, tour dates and more on the band’s website.
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